What Hurts The Most
by Tango Eight
Summary: "Too much time had been wasted as they danced around each other, too afraid to admit how they truly felt.  Now, when they finally acted upon those feelings, this had to happen."
1. Was Being So Close

Tony had finally done it.

He finally found the courage to ask Ziva David to go on a date with him; and what was even more surprising than that was she actually said yes.

The plans were set, on Friday night after work; they were going out to dinner at Zentan. It was probably going to cost Tony his entire paycheck but he didn't care. He wanted this night to be special.

When Friday finally came Tony could hardly contain his happiness; he had no idea if she felt the same way but she kept looking up from her desk, as soon as he would look up and meet her gaze she would quickly look back down at the file on her desk.

At 7:30 McGee was the first to stand up and place his report on Gibbs' desk before picking up his jacket and leaving the bullpen after saying goodbye to everyone.

It wasn't too long before Tony received an IM from Ziva.

_I will wait outside for you. _Tony just looked up and nodded slightly. Ziva stood up and handed her report to Gibbs. She left and Tony brought his finished report to Gibbs.

He was about to leave when Gibbs stopped him.

"DiNozzo," He barked before Tony left the bullpen.

"Yeah, boss?" Tony asked mid-stride.

Gibbs didn't know why but his gut was doing flip-flops which usually only happened when somebody on his team was in trouble; especially Tony.

"Be careful tonight, watch your six." He said; Tony's countenance was one of confusion.

"Always do." Tony replied. Gibbs merely nodded and Tony left. As soon as the elevator pinged open and Tony stepped inside Gibbs' phone started ringing.

"Gibbs." Gibbs answered.

"Gibbs!" It was Abby.

"What is it, Abbs?" Gibbs asked the usually cheerful Goth; however at the moment she sounded kind of freaked.

"Gibbs I'm freaking out! I feel asleep at my computer, and I know that's kind of strange especially for me, but I was waiting for AFIS to find a match for some fingerprints and that can take a long time and I haven't been able to sleep that much lately, so I did. I fell asleep and I had a really weird dream about Tony and Ziva. They were covered in blood in an ally and I woke up crying. I haven't had a dream like that since before Kate died."

Gibbs honestly didn't know what to think about that. For one thing, it was just a dream; on the other, his gut usually wasn't wrong and it was definitely telling him something "hinky" as Abby put it.

"They'll be fine, Abby." Gibbs said; he wasn't sure who he was trying to convince though.

OoOoOoO

The dinner went just as Tony had hoped it would. They didn't have time to change before they went to the restaurant but that didn't matter.

They had parked down the road from where the restaurant was so they decided to walk. It was dark as they walked the few blocks and the area was pretty much deserted which was strange for that time of night. They had just been coming up with a genius prank to play on McGee the following Monday when all hell broke loose.

Tony could hear footsteps coming up from behind them. It sounded like there were enough footsteps for several people to be behind them. He felt something slam into the back of his head and he pitched forward.

He could hear Ziva yelling but he didn't know why. When he was able to draw himself to his full height, he turned around to find two men dragging Ziva into the ally. She was fighting fiercely but she was outnumbered and taken by surprise.

His ears were ringing, and his vision was slightly blurred but he knew what they were going to do to her if they were able to get her into that ally so he lunged at them. As soon as he barreled into the first guy it through everyone off balance and they fell to the ground. Tony and one of the men, the taller of the two, stood up. The second man stayed on the ground, pinning Ziva to the ground. Tony figured she must have hit her head on the pavement when they fell because she looked dazed as she stayed on the ground.

As soon as they were standing the man reached into his pocket and pulled out a switchblade. It looked similar to the one Gibbs always carried, Tony thought to himself. The man lunged at Tony, Tony heard Ziva yell his name, but his concussed brain slowed his reaction time considerably and he was too slow to dodge the man's attack.

As soon as the man tackled him he felt a sharp, stabbing pain in his stomach. The man hadn't tackled him hard enough to send them crashing to the ground again. He had his arm wrapped around Tony's back as he shoved the knife into his stomach. Tony could feel the man breathing in his ear before the pain intensified when the man pulled the knife out and stabbed him again a couple of inches above the first one. With a jerk of his hands he twisted the knife before pulled it out a second time. Tony could hear Ziva screaming his name as he felt something that tasted like copper run out of the corner of his mouth.

Somehow Ziva was able to find the strength to gain the upper hand with the man pinning her down after watching the other man stab Tony, twice. After affectively knocking her captor unconscious by bashing his head into the pavement she advanced towards Tony's attacker. She pulled him away from Tony, noticing how Tony clutched his stomach as he dropped to the ground, and without even thinking about it snapped his neck. She let the now dead man fall to the ground before kneeling down next to Tony.

She looked at his pale face and almost gagged as the smell of blood hit her nose. She looked down at his abdomen and couldn't believe how much of it there was already on the ground. She reached in her pocket and quickly dialed 911. As soon as she was done giving the dispatcher the information they needed she let the phone drop to the ground and begun applying pressure to the wounds.

Tony groaned at the pain but his eyes remained tightly closed. His mouth was pinched together in pain and she could see a steady trickle of blood cascading down from the corner of his mouth onto the cold pavement under him.

"Tony, look at me." She said desperately. When his eyes opened they were a brilliant green, much darker then she had ever seen them. They held a look of pure agony she never wanted to see in them.

"Zi…Ziva?" He asked carefully.

"Yes, Tony. I'm here." She said, not realizing she had let a tear slid down her face.

"H...Hurts." Tony gasped as he tried to turn away from Ziva's hands and the pressure they were applying to his abdomen.

"I know; the ambulance will be here soon. Just hang on a little bit longer."

"Any…anything for you." Tony coughed. Ziva was about to reply when she heard the sirens approaching. Before she knew what was happening they were swarmed with paramedics. They quickly placed pressure bandages over the wounds but they were soaked through almost immediately. They hastily secured Tony to a gurney before loading him into the ambulance. Ziva was assisted through the backdoors of the ambulance as well due to her head injury and seemingly closeness with their critical patient.

OoOoOoO

Once aboard the ambulance, one of the paramedics closed the doors. The driver turned on the sirens and they were off so quickly everyone on-board almost lost their balance.

The paramedics set Tony up with an IV to replace the fluids he was rapidly losing. They replaced the already soaked bandages with new, clean ones.

Ziva felt completely helpless as those too were quickly soaked with blood. She had no idea how such a perfect night could be ruined so quickly. It was something she had been waiting for, for years. Throughout her time at NCIS they had both found others they thought they were in love with. Usually those relationships turned out to be disasters and when that happened, the other one was always there; even if it wasn't in the way they had thought they would be. Too much time had been wasted as they danced around each other too afraid to admit to themselves how they truly felt. Now, as soon as they finally acted upon those feelings, this had to happen. If Tony died, Ziva didn't know how she was going to handle this one. There had been too much death, and this one would be, by far, the worst one.

OoOoOoO

Rick Jacobs had been a paramedic for seven years. As soon as he had made it through medical school he realized where his calling was. He had seen some of the worst injuries in the DC area so he knew as he saw his patient it was bad. The placement of the stab wounds and the amount of blood loss pointed to a ruptured abdominal aorta. The problem was; most cases like this usually ended in death.

To Be Continued.

I know what you are probably thinking, "Is she crazy, she already has a hard enough time updating her current two stories! Why is she starting another one?" I'm close, right? I know, I know, I must be crazy but I promise this story won't be very long and I am going to update it more often (along with my other stories!). Please review!

Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS! =(


	2. Rule 52

Disclaimer: Still don't own them, but when I borrow them I cannot be responsible for the condition they are returned in (especially Tony!)

**OoOoOoO**

_Previously on What Hurts The Most…_

Rick Jacobs had been a paramedic for seven years. As soon as he had made it through medical school he realized where his calling was. He had seen some of the worst injuries in the DC area so he knew as he saw his patient it was bad. The placement of the stab wounds and the amount of blood loss pointed to a ruptured abdominal aorta. The problem was; most cases like this usually ended in the patients' death.

**OoOoOoO **

There was a white hot stabbing pain shooting through his stomach. The muscles the blade had sliced through screamed and his mind numbed slightly.

Hot breathe sawing through pinched lips as he felt the breath of his attacker by his ear, saying nothing.

Just when he thought this attack couldn't get any more painful than it already was, he was proven wrong.

The second time getting stabbed was even more painful than the first. This time, it stole his breath completely. It felt like somebody had forcefully removed all the air from his lungs, pulled his lungs out through the new holes in his stomach only to begin beating him with them.

That was a strange concept, Tony thought as his brain lost all perception of pain when his attacker twisted the knife in his gut and pulled it out.

Somebody was screaming his name…Ziva!

What were they going to do with her now that he could no longer help her? He could taste something coppery in his mouth; it slowly slid out from the corner of his mouth down his chin.

All of a sudden, the arms holding him up were gone. He brought his hands up and clutched his burning stomach, hoping to alleviate some of the pain. As soon as the support was gone, he fell to the ground limply after his legs refused to support his weight.

The pain hit him in waves and he closed his eyes tightly, he could hear Ziva saying something near him but he knew she wasn't speaking to him.

"_Yes, he's bleeding severely….Two stab wounds….Mugged…..Please send help immediately….No, I am not injured….Thank you…"_

Ziva's words, her voice, he realized gave him something to hold onto. She was the voice through the fog, reminding him what he was holding on for. He decided, no matter what, he would survive. She was the reason he needed to stay.

Then his mind numbed again as there were suddenly hands pushing into his burning stomach, he tried but failed to suppress the groan that escaped his pinched lips. He felt more blood fill his mouth, absconding down his chin again.

"_Tony, look at me." _That was Ziva again, she sounded so desperate. He hated hearing her sound like that. He opened his eyes slightly, waiting a few moments for his vision to clear.

"Z…Ziva?" He asked quietly, since when did talking become so difficult.

A tear trickled down the side of her face and Tony wanted nothing more than to be able to lift his hand off the cold pavement to wipe it away, but that didn't seem like it was going to happen. He compensated by going half way and gripping onto one of her wrists with his right hand.

"Yes, Tony. I'm here." She pressed her hands further into his stomach, and he wanted to scream it hurt so badly.

"H…Hurts." He gasped, he let his hand slacken falling on top of the hands trying to stanch the blood flowing from his abdomen. He was surprised at how much blood was seeping through her slender fingers.

"I know; the ambulance will be here soon. Just hang on a little bit longer." He wanted to hang on for her so badly but he was steadily becoming colder and the edges of his vision were closing in on itself. He had to, though.

"Any…Anything for you," he coughed, and he meant it. It looked like she was about to say something but stopped, it took him a moment but he finally heard the sirens.

As soon as the paramedics came into his line of sight he knew he was safe, he knew they would save him so he could do what he was fighting so hard to do, live.

Hands were replaced with what could only be pressure bandages, and he was quickly transferred onto a slightly warmer surface then the pavement.

As they lifted the gurney, he couldn't suppress another groan from escaping his lips. One of the paramedics looked down at him professionally but apologetically. Dark sky was replaced with bright lights; he assumed he was now in the ambulance. Ziva was there too, he turned his head just enough so he could see her.

Everyone was thrown forward slightly as the ambulance lurched forward with great speed. Tony hissed through clenched teeth at the movement.

He felt a pinch in his hand and the pain started to dissipate. Voices came in and out of focus as he started to lose awareness.

"_BP 80/50 and falling….O2 is at 85 on room air, do we need to intubate…No, let's just get a mask on him for now." _ Tony could feel the oxygen mask being placed around his nose and mouth; he was breathing heavily, the mask fogging up with every breath he took.

"_Losing too much blood….Possibly nicked the abdominal aorta….Steve, step on it…" _

Tony figured he must have blacked out because the next time he was aware of his surroundings he was no longer in an ambulance but being wheeled through the ER at George Washington University Hospital.

All he could do was look up at the lights that lined the ceiling, making him dizzy. The oxygen mask on his face felt as heavy as his eyelids as he slowly blinked. The pain was still there but it was only a whisper of what it had been at first.

Doctors were surrounding him, shouting vitals and orders to each other. He half-heartedly listened, paying more attention to the fast beeping coming from the heart monitor they had connected him to. It gave him something to hang on to, something tangible he could use to hold on.

"_His O2 stats are falling, 80 on room air. We need to intubate…BP 78/45…If we don't stabilize him now he's going to crash…"_

Tony could feel his head and neck being straightened out when he started to panic. The heart monitor began beeping even faster and more erratically as he fought against their hands trying to keep him down. He could feel straps being wrapped around his wrists and could just barely see them injecting something into the IV in his hand.

"Mr. DiNozzo, you need to calm down. This is going to help. We can't let you go to sleep because you have a concussion but please calm down." A young, attractive female doctor said; Tony stilled.

They repositioned his head and neck before speaking to him again.

"You're not getting enough oxygen so we need to insert this tube down your throat to help you breath better." They said; Tony nodded feeling the tightness in his chest from the exertion from just trying to breathe.

"This will feel uncomfortable for a moment." The same doctor told him, looking at him sympathetically.

They opened his mouth and sprayed something down his throat, it went numb immediately. He felt something cold slid down his throat keeping the air way open as the tube was snaked down his throat. The metal was eased out of his mouth and the guiding wire was removed before the tube was connected to the ventilator and they taped it in place. The oxygen burned at first as his lungs tried to fight the intrusive object but they soon found the rhythm.

"Good, your oxygen level is already looking better." She said softly.

Just then, the pain spiked drastically. The alarms went crazy on the heart monitor and before Tony knew what was happening, his eyes rolled back into his head and he instantly lost consciousness.

**OoOoOoO**

Beep….Beep….Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep…

**OoOoOoO**

"When is he going to wake up?" What the…. Tony had no idea where he was anymore. The darkness surrounded him so completely he feared he would never know anything else again. He could hear voices trickling down into the depths of his consciousness, voices he recognized from somewhere.

"He better wake up soon, I didn't give him permission to die yet." Well, that was definitely Gibbs.

"Wait, I think he's waking up." Was that, McGee? The first voice must have been Abby that only leaves Ziva unaccounted for.

As soon as he was able to open his eyes he quickly regretted it. The light was blinding and felt like it was burning his eyes. He closed them again tightly.

"Tony, can you hear me?" Gibbs again, Tony knew he should answer but couldn't form the words yet. He merely listened for a moment trying to take in his surroundings. He could hear a steady beeping noise coming from somewhere on his right side. He could feel something taped to the back of his hand and his abdomen felt heavy, there was a dull throb there and he realized he must be on the good drugs.

Slowly he opened his eyes again and found that this time it didn't hurt as badly.

"B…Boss?" He asked in a scratchy voice.

"I'm here, DiNozzo." Gibbs said softly.

"Where's Ziva?" He asked scanning the room for his missing crazy ninja chick.

"In a private room, they're keeping her here overnight for observation and releasing her in the morning." Tony was surprised at that; he didn't think she had been that injured. Gibbs sensed hi unease because he quickly answered, "She only has a slight concussion they're just being cautious. She's fine, very worried about you though. They almost had to sedate her so they could check her out. She wouldn't leave your side." Tony thought about that for a second and smiled to himself.

"So, what's the damage?" Tony asked. Gibbs looked like he was about to punch a wall when he finally answered.

"Two stab wounds, one hit your pancreas. They said they were able to repair it, and the other nicked your abdominal aorta. You nearly bleed out before they even got you here. They lost you once on the table. You also have a slight concussion."

"So when can I go home?"

"Geez, slow down DiNozzo, you just got out of surgery to repair life-threatening injuries. You're not leaving for a while."

Tony visibly deflated; he hated hospitals with a burning passion and didn't want to spend any more time in one than was absolutely necessary.

He was about to argue when his eyelids got heavy. He tried to keep his eyes open but they wouldn't cooperate. Gibbs noticed his senior field agent fading, and fast.

"Get some sleep, DiNozzo." He said, "Can't have you out of commission for too long, I need my senior field agent back in the field to watch my six."

Tony nodded with a slight smile before falling asleep.

**OoOoOoO**

The next time he woke up it was morning. He was slightly disoriented at first when he didn't recognize where he was but then the previous evenings events played over in his head.

He could feel something soft and warm in his hand and when he looked over he saw Ziva sleeping in the chair beside his bed holding onto his hand. He smiled and lifted his empty hand, touching the top of her head softly.

She woke up instantly, ready to fight as if they were still in danger.

"Hey." Tony said with a smile.

"Hey." Ziva said back, returning his smile with her own. "How are you feeling?" She asked him.

"I'm fine." He answered and she looked relieved, she also looked like she was near tears.

He slowly began moving towards one side of the bed, a making room for Ziva even though it caused him pain. He patted the bed next to him, inviting her to join him which she accepted. Being very careful of his battered body she laid down next to him, laying her head to rest on his chest. They were silent and he could feel the thin hospital gown becoming damp from her uncharacteristic tear. He wiped them away with his hand that did not have the IV protruding from it.

It didn't take long before they were both asleep on Tony's hospital bed. Gibbs had been watching the exchange from the doorway unnoticed. At first he wanted to chastise them for breaking rule 12 but thought against it.

He left the hospital, knowing Tony was in very capable hands. As soon as he got to his house he went into his bedroom and took out the box he kept all his rules written down. He found a clean piece of paper and a pencil in the box and quickly scribbled,

Rule 52: Some rules are meant to be broken.

**The End**

Told ya it was a short story! So how did you like it? Please let me know with a wonderful comment! Thank you! =)


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